What’s Going On?

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) is the largest Asian American Film Venue in the country. The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) played host for it in San Francisco and this year CAAM celebrates it’s 30th year as an established Asian American organization.

Directions in Sound is an event that is put on by the festival. It showcases Asian American talent through music. The musical talent range from DJs, musicians, singers and rappers. The venue for Directions in Sound this year took place at the Mighty Night Club. This year the festival kicked off with mixes from DJ Nako. She is known for playing indie rock, 80s, and Brit Pop Sound.

Followed DJ Nako was a performance by Kero One and Green Tea. Kero One is a hip hop artist that got the crowd going with his unique flows accompanied with music played by Green Tea. Kero One presents his audience with a jazzy soulful flavor and an upbeat synth-driven sound.

Following Kero One, DJ Shortkut mixed the sound up by incorporating a video-mixing set, using music videos by various artists.  DJ Shortkut kept the crowd going for a good amount of time enough to prepare the group for the next performance.

Hot Tub is a Bay Area group that came up on the stage to rile up the crowd to insanity. The performance is given by three ladies in spandex who throw out flows like no other to upbeat hip hop beats. Hot Tub involved the crowd in a couple of ways that if you were there you would not forget. The ladies of Hot Tub jumped into the crowd to get people pumped up, they even piggy backed some of the party goers to get them to go crazy. Towards the end of their set they brought onto the stage several audience members to dance up on the stage to liven up the crowd.

To finish up the night, DJ Navdeep mixed it up with music of a South Asian flare and Bhangra rhythms.

Pictures of the Directions in Sound can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) is the largest Asian American Film Venue in the country. The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) played host for it in San Francisco and this year CAAM celebrates it’s 30th year as an established Asian American organization.

The festival was very entertaining and enjoyable that I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t as excited to have attended the screenings and the parties. The festival covers a little over a week with screenings in San Francisco and Berkeley and following the festival in SF the film festival moves down to San Jose for an additional three days with limited screenings.

The beginning of festival kicked off with Opening Night at the Castro theater with the feature film “Today’s Special” Directed by David Kaplan, produced by Lillian LaSalle and Nimitt Mankad, featuring Aasif Mandvi and Madhur Jaffrey. The film is a romantic comedy that deals with family and food in New York City. The film was very humorously entertaining and left the crowd literally hungry for more.

Following the film, festival goers attended a gala held at the Asian Art Museum located in the city’s Civic Center. There local vendors distributed some delicious food and drink, while ticket holders were allowed to wander the halls of the museum, mingle in the open spaces, and dance in an upper gallery.

Pictures of opening night can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) Launch Party was held at 111 Minna Gallery located in Downtown San Francisco. The festival is in it’s 28th year and this year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

The party kicked off officially at 8pm and lasted a little past midnight. CAAM members, fans of Asian American media, and the general public were invited out for a night of fun. The night was filled with music from guest DJs, music videos shown on the silver screen, and live performances from local bands who performed on stage. Hundreds of people showed up to be apart of this celebration and guests showed up ready to party on a Thursday night.

This year’s festival will host about 109 short films, feature length films, music videos, and other various types of media. For more information about the festival and Asian American media please check out CAAM’s website by clicking here. Please support Asian American film makers and actors by watch a film or two at this year’s festival and to be more involved throughout the year please join membership with CAAM to be kept in touch with future festival events, private movie screenings, and discounts from local vendors.

Pictures of the launch party can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If you enjoyed this post and it was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

Fleet Week 2009 started off Saturday morning with a Parade of Ships. The ships entered under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 11:30am. Leading off the fleet was the USS Green Bay, followed by USCGC Boutwell, then from Canada the HMCS 710 Brandon, HMCS 705 Whitehorse, HMCS 703 Edmonton, and finally followed by SS Jeremiah O’Brien.

This year I was able to board two ships. The two ships that I toured were the USS Green Bay and USCGC Boutwell. The USS Green Bay is a amphibious transport dock ship. The main purpose for this ship is to provide transport of troops and vehicles to sea or land. The ship is capable of landing helicopters and harrier jets. It also can deploy small boats, tanks, armored vehicles, construction vehicles, and even hovercrafts. The home port for the USS Green Bay is in San Diego, CA.

The other ship that I was able to tour was the USCGC Boutwell. The USCGC Boutwell is a Coast Guard Cutter ship that is used to patrol the shores of the United States. The main purpose of this ship is to protect and patrol our shores from enemies foreign and domestic. On board the deck of the ship are two 50 caliber machine guns one on each side of the ship, two 25 caliber machine guns on each side of the ship, one MK-75 76mm machine gun on the bow, and a Phalanx CIWS (Close-in weapon system) at the stern which is an anti-anti-ship missile machine gun that can shoot a wall of lead at possible incoming missiles. The home port for the USCGC Boutwell is Alameda, CA.

Touring both ships took almost three hours total and I did not get a chance to board the Canadian ships. I was a little bit disappointed in not seeing them because Monday was their last day docked here in SF and were headed back home to Canada. Tuesday turned out to be a rainy day and so I doubt if any ships allowed any civilians to board ship. Funny thing as I left the USCGC Boutwell two female shipmates wanted to take a picture of me and I humorously agreed to take it with them.

Pictures of the Fleet Week Naval Ship Tours can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment below for the pictures and/or the posting.

The Fleet Week 2009 Air Show in San Francisco this year was perhaps a slight disappointment from the many years that I’ve been attending. Before you you think that this was a total failure continue reading and I will explain everything. The Blue Angels are by far one of my all time favorite things to see every year and although some of the maneuvers are pretty much routine they always seem to keep me in awe. They are by far one of the most skilled men and women of our Armed Forces that are chosen to be a part of the Navy’s flight demonstration team. However, this year the weather put a damper on the show for Saturday and the Blue Angels had to put an end to their show fairly quickly and ugly conditions on Sunday prevented the Blue Angels to do any maneuvers up into the clouds.

First off, Thursday was a good and sunny day down at the Marina. The Blue Angels including their Hercules C-130 and a few other propeller planes took to the skies over San Francisco. The Blue Angels were doing their typical survey flights over the city to get a general feel of location for how the show will be for Saturday and Sunday. Also present for a little practice were three propeller planes including one bi-plane. The pilots of the four planes were Sean Tucker with Team Oracle, Melissa Pemberton with Melissa Aerobatics, Tim Weber with Geico, and Michael Wiskus with Lucas Oil Pitts. Also joining in a solo practice was Julie Clark with Chevron who has clocked in over 30,000 hours of accident free flying and Airship Ventures which flew a large blimp across the skies.

The next day on Friday, the air show was in full swing for a full complete practice with great sunny skies. The day was exceptional with just beautiful weather and the show was pretty amazing. Like Thursday all of the previously mentioned pilots took part in practice in addition to a couple more demonstrations by a United Airlines 747 and Gregory Colyer who flew the T-33. The great weather allowed for some great images and I am so thankful that I came to the practice on Friday because the next two days were gloomy.

Saturday was a partly cloudy sky with most of the clouds burning off as it passed Marina Green and to the east. Yes I attended on Saturday as well. I told you I love planes and jets, who doesn’t? Saturday is the first official day of the Fleet Week Air Show and boy was it exciting. Planes all over the skies and right over your head makes for one exhilarating day. The show included all the above pilots and planes plus a United States Coast Guard HH-65 helicopter which performed a diver rescue demonstration who dove and was retrieved from the water, the Patriots jet team, and with a couple surprises that were not on the schedule like two F-16s, four T-6A Texan II planes, and a C-17C Globemaster III cargo plane. Ending off the airshow were the Blue Angels which had to cut short their performance due to the fog rolling into the Bay. According to one of the pilots I spoke with the FAA would not allow them to fly without 3 miles of visibility. When I heard that I totally understood because the Blue Angels need pinpoint accuracy when flying at high speeds and all those crazy aero acrobatics.

Later Saturday night the Blue Angels held a “Meet and Greet” for about 45 minutes at Pier 39. There fans could meet up close and personal with the pilots of the F-18s, C-130, and the rest of the crew. I had a chance to get autographs with all of them and they too were happy to answer any questions about the Blue Angels or the Navy. This was the first time I had ever met the Blue Angels first hand and I thought it was a pretty cool experience. Following the “Meet and Greet” there was a live 80s cover band that played all the greatest hits named Fast Times at Pier 39 and further down the waterfront at Pier 3 there were fireworks presented by the Hornblower Cruises and Events.

Sunday was a gloomy day much far worse than Saturday, but the good thing about Sunday was that the air show still went on without a hitch. The show went on despite overcast clouds and light fog. Even more surprising is that the Blue Angels took to the skies with a modified program which made me happy. Still great maneuvers in the sky and some awesome pictures of a high speed low pass by from one of the F-18s that created a cool water vapor bubble effect. On Sunday I had a different vantage point from the other three days, I was at Aquatic Park which is a nice place to watch, but a horrible place to take pictures because of all the obstructions of buildings and boats that are in the harbor. Other than that it was a cool place to be with many people who clapped and gave a bunch of Ohs and Ahs.

Overall, I lied. The air show was great. The weather for the first half was great, but the remaining half the weather wasn’t cooperating at all. The planes and their pilots took to the air with an amazing show. Seeing the giant Airbus A380 was a great sight to see two years ago. I just can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.

A selection of pictures from the San Francisco Fleet Week 2009 Air Show can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment below for the pictures and/or the posting.

LovEvolution 2009 is a dance music parade and festival that happens once a year. Formerly known as Love Fest and Love Parade, LovEvolution is in it’s 6th year and larger than you can imagine. People took to the streets early Saturday morning awaiting the parade of floats, DJs, and dancers. People young and old came out to check out this yearly event and just about the only time in San Francisco that you can come dressed with next to nothing, well in some people’s cases they did just that.

LovEvolution is a week long celebration that started off the week with numerous DJs playing at different clubs throughout the city ending with the LovEvolution parade and festival. The LovEvolution parade started on 2nd and Market Streets and concluded at Civic Center Plaza where a $10 admission fee was charged for the festival. The festival lasted until 8pm where festival goers could enjoy more partying at other after parties located locally with ticket prices ranging up to around $80 per person.

The parade route was completely swamped with people dancing and grooving to the beats that the DJs were throwing out and it was an intensly populated parade that cross traffic was held up for almost a couple hours. No traffic, that I know of, was allowed to cross Market St. due to the large volume of people and as I walked the parade route I noticed people got out of their cars and walked up to the crosswalks to see what was going on. As the floats went down Market St. I was surprised to see big rigs pulling trailers filled with people and huge speakers. There were a couple nifty buses that were outfitted for a party which I thought added a little more character to the parade than the big rigs. Overall, the parade was a great hit amongst people of all ages and I can say is almost like the Bay to Breakers with people dressing up in costumes or skimpy clothing and even with some people that were bare naked.

At the festival the line to get in the Civic Center Plaza was insane. People waited over 30 minutes just to get inside. Once inside it was a mecca of dance music all around. Parade floats were somewhat evenly spaced out throughout the whole area with one fixed stage right in front of City Hall. Directly in the center of the Civic Center Plaza food and drink vendors lined the strip with a few memorabilia vendors scattered throughout. People were a little more rowdy inside as I can imagine as more alcohol and music surrounding was available. It got a little intense inside with a few getting alcohol poisoning, a few riled up enough to destroy public property, and a few having partied so much that they had to sit out for awhile.

In the end, I can only imagine how many showed up to the parade and festival and if I were to put a number on how many guests attended either the parade or the festival I would have to say that number would have to be around 200,000. LovEvolution turned out to be a huge success with a large following. The vision for LovEvoluion is for dance to promote peace, love, unity and respect.

Pictures of LovEvolution can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

Every year teams from all over come to San Francisco Bay to compete in the Dragon Boat races located at Treasure Island. This year good weather brings about good competition and lots of festival goers. At first glance, the festival seems to be a little more organized this year with organized parking lots, more seating for the entertainment stage, a larger kid’s zone, and a section for the finish line officials that is not obstructed by people because it was elevated.

Treasure Island has been the location for these races for quite some time now and it’s been great to be able to travel not so far from San Francisco to part take in some beautiful weather and with great views of San Francisco’s skyline. The festival took place on September 26th and 27th from 8-5pm. I enjoyed the festival on Sunday with beautiful sunny skies. Most of the day were races for the high school divisions, but I believe later in the day the finals for other groups took place along with an awards ceremony to follow.

This year I spent most of my time enjoying the live entertainment taking place on the large stage built near the entrance to the festival. There I was able to enjoy different various martial arts, some singing, and my favorite lion dancing.

Festival goers could take part in many activities this year on location which included Dragon Land (arts and crafts for the youth), a variety of international food vendors, shopping (gifts and other various memorabilia), a health and fitness tent, a couple informational booths, live entertainment, and of course the dragon boat races.

Sunday at the festival was Family Day and families with children were encouraged to come while mascots and other festival characters were there to greet. I personally got to see some stilt walkers around the grounds, Nickelodeon’s Kai-lan, a red and green dragon, a balloon artist, and some volunteers who helped put on temporary tattoos.

Each year the entertainment and the booths become more interesting and as the years press on I’m looking forward to a much larger audience with an ever increasing number of exciting and new vendors. If you haven’t seen dragon boat races before well mark your calenders next year as the competition is fierce for the 300m and 500m races. Parking is free and there are shuttles on and off the island. Passage to and from the island from San Francisco is free, but visitors coming from the East Bay will still have to pay a bridge toll to access the island.

Pictures of the SF International Dragon Boat Festival can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

The 39th Annual Millbrae Art & Wine Festival is a street fair that is held on the Labor Day weekend. The festival spans about 8-10 blocks or roughly about 3/4 of a mile. Throughout the festival there are countless numbers of arts and crafts booths, as well as food booths. On northern end of the festival there was a small kid’s carnival that had several rides.

A few things about this street fair that I found to be of interest and one of my favorites is the fact that it felt homey and that it had a small town feel. Although it was crowded and large, it did not feel that way.

Present at the festival were the Millbrae police and fire department with the police department raising funds from a water dunk tank. This street fair also had the small town feel by showcasing a couple vintage cars that dated back to the mid-1900s and a few makes of Ford Mustangs.

The festival had two stages; one for live music and the other for talent searching. At a couple of corners of the festival were beer and wine booths. Where purchasing of alcohol was done by using tokens/tickets and by using special beer and wine glasses produced for this festival to be used again and again. Food vendors also were on a few corners and all the food booths smelled and looked delicious.

Two things that I found to be unique at this festival was being able to see planes and vehicles made from beer and soda cans and a street artist by the name of Michel Saga who sings to French music using a barrel organ. The barrel organ is played by turning a crank and feeding an accordion-like ream of cardboard that has slotted holes in it for the music box to play chords accordingly. Such a fascinating contraption made me wonder and wonder how such a machine like that worked. I wanted to see the inside of the box, but was out of luck. Maybe one day I’ll get a chance to see what lies in one of those barrel organs.

Next year, plan on coming to this wonderful street festival. It is a great and relaxing place to enjoy the weekend in the warm summer sun. The festival is also good to support local businesses/artists as well as getting to try different types of beer and wine. Parking may be a little difficult, but get here early next year and make sure you keep your eyes peeled. The festival is a two day event and if time allows you check it out on both days, you won’t regret it.

Pictures of the Millbrae Art & Wine Festival can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

The California State Fair is held annually in Sacramento (the state capital of California). Each year the Cal Expo hosts an over two week long celebration of what California has to offer and ends Labor Day. This year’s theme for the fair was “Weird Wild & Wacky” and at the fair there is a vast array of things to do. No one that comes to the fair will be disappointed because there is always something for everyone.

One good reason to come to the fair is to see Terry Stokes, the hypnotist, live on the PG&E Center Stage. Every year Stokes brings onto the stage volunteers from the audience in hopes to put them under his trance. While the group is hypnotized, Stokes is able to get the majority of them to do what he asks them to do as long as it is within the audience member’s morals. Oftentimes, he gets the audience laughing and entertains them so much that they stay and watch his entire show uninterrupted not wanting to miss a single moment.

Another thing to check out at the fair is the livestock that is displayed in the Livestock Pavilion and Cavalcade of Horses Arena. There you can find pigs, horses, lambs, goats, sheep, and other various farm animals. Cattle contests and horse wagon shows are just some of the events that take place almost every day at the fair and there are a few days where even a rodeo comes to town. In the California Ranchland section of the expo there is a petting zoo for all ages, where a couple of dollars can get you entry and the ability to feed all sorts of animals.

Exhibits in the Expo Center Buildings are always quite interesting. There are 8 buildings that make up the Expo Center. Each building displays something different to showcase off what Californians have done for the fair. The exhibit halls this year are Youth Art & Design, California Foodstyle, Wild, Wacky & Wonderful California (new to this years exhibit hall), It’s a Candy Nation (also new), Industrial & Technology, Fur & Feathers, California Fine Arts, and California Creative Arts.

Next to the Expo is a 9/11 Memorial that plays tribute to those that lost their lives on that day. There represented is a cross-beam that was part of the actual building, a twin towers replica, and a rotating 5,000 lb. granite ball with the names of those fallen which sits afloat on top of a small water fountain.

If the exhibits and the animals are not enough entertainment and fun for the family there’s a midway and carnival rides for the kids and the adults. The larger carnival is on the west end of the expo, whereas, the kid’s carnival is on the eastern end. Food vendors line all paths of the fairgrounds and if you don’t see one you haven’t been looking hard enough. Staples at the fair are funnel cakes, turkey legs, fried veggies, kettle corn, and corn dogs.

If entertainment is not your thing, there is a lot of shopping that you can do at the fair. Inside of a couple buildings there is a shoppers expo. Here you can find local businesses, even businesses from out of state here. Vendors present all sorts of things to buy from food snacks to “As Seen On TV” items. Make sure to bring disposible income because there are tons of things that are useful.

Adjacent to the shopping expo, there also is a couple of buildings that are dedicated to displays of the various counties that are in California. Each county has the opportunity to display what their county has to offer and usually they do so with big displays and lots of brochures. Some displays are pretty interesting and you can tell that a lot of thought has gone into developing them. Not all counties actually show up to display, but a majority of them come out to represent themselves.

If entertainment and shopping is just not what you are looking for you can just sit back and relax or take a walk in the Floriculture section of the expo, The Farm, the California Forest Center or even Raging Waters (at an additional cost).

Every year the fair has a pretty entertaining line up for the fair’s concert series. This year the fair was able to book the following groups to perform on the Golden 1 Circle Stage. They were David Cook, Jay & The Americans, Cannibal & The Headhunters, Merrilee Rush, Badfinger, SOnny Geraci and Otis Day, Tonic, Salvador, The Fab Four, Martha Munizzi, Tarde De Ritmo Y Recuerdos, Lou Gramm, M.C. Hammer, Three Dog Night, Blake Shelton, and Tops in Blue.

On September 3rd, M.C. Hammer performed live on the Golden 1 Circle Stage. He put on a good show for everyone and brought some of his old classics back. A few familiar songs that he played were “U Can’t Touch This”, “Too Legit to Quit”, “Addams Grove” (edited version of “The Addam Family”), and “Turn This Mutha Out”. M.C. Hammer said to his audience that he’s not there to perform and that he in not presenting a show, he was there to party and a party it was. He got everyone standing on their feet in the groove of things and later towards the end of his appearance he brought 30-40 people up on stage just to dance during two songs. Fans went crazy when on stage and it ended up being a club scene on stage. People on stage sure had a good time dancing, singing, shaking hands  and taking pictures with M.C. Hammer. Although, M.C. Hammer is getting older he still knows how to put on a great show and get the audience involved, a true sign of a good entertainer.

In our recession the fair still ends each evening off with a display of fireworks for about 10 minutes at 10 PM. The fireworks are shot off from the horse track and viewable from the grand stand as well as the eastern end of the fairgrounds. The carnival on the western side of the fairgrounds is open one hour after the rest of the grounds closes.

Pictures of the California State Fair can be seen by clicking on the picture link above.

The first ever Eat Real Festival was held at Jack London Square in one of Oakland’s most famous historic places. The event spanned over a three day period, but there were a few events held that led up to major festivities. Friday at the festival was pretty much an ice cream night with a late night film. Saturday was an all day event where everyone can enjoy live performances, foods galore, a farmers market, cooking demonstrations and talks, a beer shed, a butchery contest, scenic views of the marina, and local shopping at the outdoor mall. Sunday was a shorter day, but still filled with good food and live music.

I visited the festival on Saturday and the day started off in extreme heat. I’m not use to hot weather so any opportunity that I had to take shelter under some shade or inside a building was the key to staying cool and away from heat exhaustion. As I entered the festival near about the time the festival started lines for food vendors started building up and crowds of people came swarming in. The amount of diverse representation of foods and desserts at the festival were mind boggling.

Compared to San Francisco’s Street Food Festival that took place a week before the Eat Real Festival, the festival was able to accommodate the amount of people that showed up. Jack London Square proved to be a venue where many people can come to check out local good eats without having to wait astronomical amounts of time for food. San Francisco also had to cram everything within one block so that didn’t help things. The food festival at Jack London Square was about two blocks long, utilizing the waterfront, the water fountain plaza, and the newly soon to be farmers market building.

Performances on the music and film stage were also diverse. Different types of music performed or played on stage ranged from Hip Hop to contemporary Pop. They had a small orchestra, dancers, and even a guy playing a shovel (make-shift guitar) on stage.

Some people took advantage from the heat by going inside the new farmers market building to check out local grown fruits and vegetables, as well as other goodies. Only the ground floor was open to the public with two aisles of vendors. A small indoor theater was created for visitors and a couple street food vendors set up shop inside also.

The food at the festival was reasonably priced between $1-$5 per portion. Of the food that I was able to try, they were pretty good. I loved the idea of this festival that I hope to see more festivals like this more often. One huge benefit that I saw this festival having was the fact that a large amount of diversity can be brought to one location where you’re given endless choices of food to decide on eating. I think the next time I come to a festival like this I will come with a huge appetite because everything looked so good to eat, but the stomach can only take so much in.

In no particular order, the following is a list of food vendors that represented at the festival: Zella’s Soulful Kitchen, Sam’s Chowder Van, Chaac Mool, Estrellita’s Snacks, Los Cilantros, Urban Nectar, Pizza Politana, Botanas , elicitas, Gobba Gobba Hey, Phatt Matt’s BBQ, Sweetface Bakery, 5e5 : Farinata on Wheels, SF Pie Truck, Wholesome Bakery, Nieves Cinco de May, El Porteno, The Creme Brulee Cart, Gelateria Cici, Roli Roti, Ritual Coffee Roasters, Localicious, 4505 Meats, Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen, Liba Falafel Truck, Oren’s Kitchen, Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County: Taste of Home, Tim Luym From Poleng Lounge, Soul Cocina, Amuse Bouche, Los Angeles de Pueblas Frutas, Laloo’s, Adobo Hobo, Aisu Pop, Gerard’s Paella, Sexy Soup Cart, Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Chop Bar, Seoul on Wheels, Straus Family Creamery, Jon’s Street Eats, Fruit Cart by Cecilia Lopez, Pepito’s Ice Cream, Amanda’s Feel Good Fresh Food, Shuga Hill Catering, Fat Bottom Bakery, Yanet’s Desserts, and Kara’s Cupcakes.

More information on the Eat Real Festival can be found here.

Photos from the Eat Real Festival can be viewed by clicking the image link above.